Weekly Global Campus News

News from NYU Abu Dhabi: the latest in OCA's ongoing collaboration with The Gazelle.

Peace One Day

Peace One Day took place Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Campus West Dining Hall. Its slogan was “Celebrating peace, diversity, and coexistence at NYUAD.” The cultural fair hosted an open mic and a food festival. Many of the Cultural Student Interest Groups on campus participated, including the UAE Club, Latinoamérica, Africa Global, ASEAN, and the Ukrainian SIG. The food festival consisted of a variety of dishes from Ethiopian, Egyptian, Latin American and Italian cuisine.

Peace One Day is a global movement adopted by the United Nations, celebrates an international peace day annually on Sept. 21. At NYU Abu Dhabi, the event was hosted by Daniel Rey, Class of 2020.

“For the cultural fair, we worked with the idea of ‘cultural micro-experience’, short two minutes interactions for people to learn about a culture different from theirs … it helps us rethink how peace starts at the individual, micro, person to person level and that from there we can move on to solving conflicts at large,” said Rey.

Splash Bash

Residential Education’s annual pool party, Splash Bash, was back during the long weekend. On Sept. 23, Splash Bash took place at the Hilton Capital Grand. Tickets went on sale on Sept. 5 at 8 p.m. and sold out immediately. Busses transported 100 eager to relax poolside.

There were complimentary fruit mocktails and snacks beside the pool. In the hot weather, many students stood under table umbrellas, as they ate their melting ice cream. Those brave enough to enter the pool played volleyball or simply napped on top of the inflatable unicorns, rainbows or flamingos that were provided.

“It was so fun! I was just chilling by the side of the pool and I met some new people. Those four hours were worth it. I don’t know if I would have stayed longer with the heat though,” said Jia Khan, Class of 2020.

SLICE Dialogue

On Sept. 19, NYU Abu Dhabi Spiritual Life and InterCultural Education program hosted a community dialogue night. It took place in the Living Room, where students were invited to talk about the party culture on campus. It was an event open exclusively for students, making it clear that the dialogue would be 100% student-led and confidential.

The announcement was made on Facebook’s group, NYUAD Student Life. The discussion was led by two student SLICE Dialogue Ambassadors. The topics revolved around questions posted by the NYUAD Spiritual and InterCultural Education: “Ever been to a party on campus? Are they your favorite way to unwind after a chaotic week of classes? Do you like to go and meet new people? Have you gone to some but not enjoyed it as much?”

Many students agree that such discussions are significant to student life at NYUAD. James Pearce, Class of 2021, commented on the Facebook post advertising the event, “I think this is a super important discussion that need to continue after this meeting, especially given recent developments regarding Residential Education and their interactions with parties on campus.”